Great article Mobbs - so much of it mirrors my own background of attending the same school from the mid-fifties and following all three of the sports sides from then onwards. Not too many English towns/cities boast fully professional teams in the three main team ball game sports so, although as you say for most of their histories Saints have been the most successful and the other two less so, we are pretty fortunate.

One of the things I've picked up from this thread and others where schools are being discussed is the amount of us that went to NGSB/NSB, suppose it kind of makes some sense given how important rugby was/is at the school

When I went there Ted rugby was king in the winter and cricket in the summer. Those of us who grew up playing football were disappointed it wasn't played at the school, although that changed in later years, and apprehensive about learning this much more physical game. I think most of us learned to love it even if we weren't very good at it and links to Saints were always evident in the selection of PE teachers. I imagine these days sport there has been much more diluted by the emphasis on a wider range, so far fewer quality rugby players emerge these days.

During my time it was rugby in the winter for years one to four unless of course the pitches were unusable in which case the dreaded cross country run came into play. Only when one was in the fifth or sixth form could you play football on one of the two available pitches, which were the bottom level and the ON's. Sports masters tended to be rugby orientated and here I am thinking of Messrs Sykes, Smart, Ebsworth and Jones III.

Towcester GS (Sponne) of course also contributed quite a few top players in the "old days" - including Ian George (Jamie's dad) who I always thought was a considerable talent (9/10/15) possibly slightly blighted by his versatility.

When I was in the 4th form they started an under 16 side run by one "Smiler" Randall and it played against local secondary schools like Bective and a few others I can't recall which played rugby as well as football. Playing for that side proved to be my zenith in the game but great fun. Those of us who preferred football used to book park pitches on Saturday mornings. The most well known footballer at the school in my time was Jim Hall who went on to play for the Cobblers in the first division and had a long career also playing for Peterborough and Cambridge United. Pete "Sammy" Phipps played as a semi-pro for Kettering Town and I later played in the United Counties league. Occasionally playing on a Saturday afternoon on Dallington Park we would hear a huge roar from down the road and someone would say "Saints have scored" and we would eagerly wait for the "Green 'un", later the "Pink 'un" to come out at six in the evening with full reports on the Cobblers by "Flag Kick" and Saints by "Touch judge" or some such nom de plume. Happy days !

Pitsford (NGS back then) too was heavily rugby orientaged. We had Olver snr and Barry Burgess as coaches. Although I only remember them as Sir and Sir!

We weren't allowed to play football. It was rugby and rugby with a smattering of cricket and cross country.

I seem to remember our 1st XV getting pretty far in the Daily Mail cup at times. I know that there were a number of county and possibly age group capped players but I don't think many ran out for Saints.

Great article - brought back memories of walking to the Mobbs match in KUS school uniform from Kingsthorpe and being a bit nervous about walking through Kingsheath, then getting three sheets to the wind in Trinity clubhouse prior to the game. The mention of Jacko Page reminded me of an anecdote told by my brother who had played with him at the gardens when he was younger. By this time my brother was about to start a game with Trinity seconds or thirds at Dallington Park when he spotted Jacko in the distance and shouted across "have you got your kit Jacko?" (They were a man short) and the response came "I have but I wouldn't come over there if you f***in paid me!".

Great article Mobbs we must be of the same vintage first year at NGS was 1955 so we probably shared a number of Saints as PT masters.

Brown envelopes were not in evidence in the era of REG Jeeps as I have it on good authority that an incoming Welsh centre when approached for his match fee asked how much it was and then replied is that all we get?

I have vague memories of the lido in disrepair and spent many an afternoon under the Gordon Stand when the rugby was less than interesting .

Brought back memories of sitting on the hill pre Sturtridge days and recalling Phil Bennett for the Baa Baas playing dry weather rugby on as it was then a quagmire.

Super article of the high quality and content we come to expect from Mobbs.
I was at a do last night also attended by David (Piggy) Powell and mentioned the article to him. Of course his memories of the club are legendary and I enjoyed listening to numerous anecdotes. An evening with him at the club would be most enjoyable. I had forgotten he was went on two Lions tours, what an achievement.
As an engineer by initial training I can only marvel at the shear cost efficiency and functionality of that piece of guttering/drainpipe. Installation cost about a tenner, maintenance cost zero, volume of liquid transported over life of product-best not dwelt on.

An enjoyable and well written article Mobbs, stirring memories from others. I have no early life connection with Saints but I do find personal recollections like this fascinating. I would welcome chapter 2. In fact I'm sure there are lots of Saints related memories hidden away in the heads of this board's contributors, some of which may be repeatable. I wonder if it would be possible to build up a bank of such article which could be slotted in on slow news weeks, especially in the off season, while we are awaiting the signing of the next messiah.

I also think an evening with David Powell is an excellent idea, perhaps hosted by Martin Bayfield or Paul Grayson.

I attended Duston School and one week we went down to watch the Mobbs match. We were a week early so we helped ourselves to some apples stored nearby by the "Quick Turnover" . Yes we returned the next week also to watch the match with no permission from the school.
My dad told me about Phil Benet playing for the Ba baas and the pitch was a quagmire but he skated over it like a fly and was untouchable.
The family is from Jimmies end so they all went swimming in the lido etc and all big saints supporters. One played for the Wanderers and Trinity also

FlyhookerI attended Duston School and one week we went down to watch the Mobbs match. We were a week early so we helped ourselves to some apples stored nearby by the "Quick Turnover" . Yes we returned the next week also to watch the match with no permission from the school.
My dad told me about Phil Benet playing for the Ba baas and the pitch was a quagmire but he skated over it like a fly and was untouchable.
The family is from Jimmies end so they all went swimming in the lido etc and all big saints supporters. One played for the Wanderers and Trinity also

I was at that game too and I swear blind Phil Bennett didn't even get his boots dirty!
I was also at a Mobbs game where Tom David and Fergus Slattery ended up in the centre. Can someone confirm that I didn't dream that!

My mum was out for the night at the Salon, before the war.
Dad had just finished training at the Gardens and snuck in through the back door to scrounge some food. Dad met mum.

Fast forward a couple of years, and they were married in Abington Park church just before WW2 broke out.

Fast forward to after the war and I came along.

Dad would take me to the Gardens in winter and the county ground in the summer, where I well remember watching those named by Mobbs. I recall Keith Andrew actually getting a stumping off David Larter's bowling! But he did not mention my favourites at the time, the Watts' brothers, Jim and Peter. I can also remember the Windies, as well as the Aussies. We got decent touring side games in those days.

As for Colin Milburn, simply put, he was a lovely man.

You brought a tear to my eye with this piece, Mobbs. Different times!!

Met Colin at the Wimpey in Gold Street when had just joined the ground staff, also there were Stuart Jakeman and Malcolm Scott and after a few meetings became friends with all three of them.

Bernard Sunley used to have a Blackwood Hodge side comprising local cricketers and some professionals who played at Ashton in front his house.on Sundays.

Some 2 years later I got into the side as a fielder and Colin was there because not only was he very good but he was a very sociable person so we reconnected and I shared many a pleasant evening with him.

I met him again at the Salon when he was an England cricketer and he came out of his way to come across and spent time chatting about the old days , strange as we were both in our early 20's and to his credit he was the same old smashing person, lovely bloke taken too soon.

We record all IP addresses on the Sportnetwork message boards which may be required by the authorities in case of defamatory or abusive comment.
We seek to monitor the Message Boards at regular intervals.
We do not associate Sportnetwork with any of the comments and do not take responsibility for any statements or opinions expressed on the Message Boards.
If you have any cause for concern over any material posted here please let us know as soon as possible by e-mailing
abuse@sportnetwork.net